Tuning In: Bruins' radio voice Goucher thinks this is how playoff hockey should be

Thursday

May 1, 2014 at 6:00 AM

Just like all hockey fans, Dave Goucher can't wait for the start of the Bruins-Canadiens playoff series.

"To me this is the way it should be," said the Bruins' radio play-by-play voice on the Sports Hub, 98.5 FM. "It's a rivalry that goes back decades and you've got generations upon generations of fans on both sides that look forward to this. It doesn't get much better than this."

The best-of-seven, second-round Stanley Cup playoff series begins at 7:30 tonight at the Garden.

This will be the 34th postseason meeting between the two teams, the most in pro sports.

"There's a pretty good level of hatred on both sides," Goucher said, "from the player side and the fan side."

Despite the heated feelings, Goucher can walk the streets of Montreal without fear.

"That's the beauty of radio," Goucher said. "There's a certain amount of anonymity to it."

Montreal has won a record 24 Stanley Cups and holds a 24-9 edge in playoff series against Boston.

"I don't know if entitlement is the word," Goucher said, "but there is a certain level of kind of arrogance that comes along with being so successful for so many years and that probably rubs Bruins fans the wrong way because a lot of that success came against Boston."

The Bruins have won the last two series, sweeping the Canadiens in 2009 and eliminating them in seven games, three of them OT victories, in 2011 on their way to capturing the Stanley Cup championship.

Even regular season games between these longtime rivals are spirited, so you can imagine how intense their playoff games will be.

"The Bruins would like to play with some controlled emotion," Goucher said, "especially when they get up to Montreal. That can be a bit of a circus-like atmosphere when they get up there."

Goucher believes the Bruins can handle that.

"They've got enough guys on that roster," he said, "who have played in big games in Montreal over the last four or five years, so I think they know what they're in for when they go up there."

Goucher discounts the significance of the Canadiens beating the Bruins in three out of four games during the regular season because the Bruins eliminated the Red Wings in five games in the opening round after also dropping three of four to them during the regular season.

The series will be far more than merely a battle of Montreal's speed against Boston's physicality, in Goucher's estimation.

"I think the Bruins believe they have a pretty good amount of team speed too," Goucher said. "They'd like to follow the blueprint (that they) followed against Detroit, which was to take away Detroit's speed and control the neutral zone. Their defensemen and their forwards back-checked to not allow Detroit any time and space to freewheel through center ice."

Ten Bruins scored in the opening round, but neither Brad Marchand nor David Krejci put the puck in the net and Marchand was held without a point.

As Bruins fans well know, Marchand scored 11 goals in the 2011 playoffs to set a team record for rookies, and Krejci led the NHL in postseason scoring in 2011 and 2013. Goucher was especially shocked by the chances Marchand failed to convert.

"I don't know if it's a case of, as they say in golf parlance, the yips a little bit." Goucher said, "but he's too good a player and too good a goal scorer to not bury those chances and I think eventually he'll be heard from."

On the other hand, Milan Lucic continued to thrive in the playoffs by leading the Bruins with three goals against Detroit. Lucic seems to play his best in Game 7s.

"Think back to that Game 7 comeback against Toronto last year," Goucher said. "He was a man possessed out there in the final 10 minutes and in overtime. He has the ability to take the team on his back."

Montreal swept Tampa Bay, 4-0, in the opening round, but Goucher pointed out that Anders Lindbach didn't play well in goal for the Lightning in place of the injured Ben Bishop. Goucher rates Montreal's Carey Price among the top five goaltenders in the NHL, but he believes Boston's Tuukka Rask is the best.

Goucher expects Thomas Vanek, who has totaled 62 points in 55 games against Boston, to play a key role in the series.

"I've got to believe," he said, "that the Canadiens acquired him (from the Islanders at the trade deadline) with the thought that he's a Bruins killer and they were likely to play the Bruins in the playoffs at some point."

With NBC and its sister cable networks prohibiting NESN from televising any Bruins playoffs after the first round, Goucher hopes more fans tune into his broadcasts on 98.5 FM.

"I think people in New England are real provincial," he said, "and I would hope they would want a call with the local flavor. I know as a sports fan, that's what I like. I don't have any concrete evidence that our listenership goes up, but I would hope it would."

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.